Lidar is a remote sensing application that uses a light source to illuminate a subject and sophisticated sensor technology to analyze the reflected radiation or light scatter from the subject. This technology is adaptable to a range of material sizes, from microscopic particles to large landmasses, as well as material density, from atmospheric gases to complex compounds. IPG Photonics provides a spectrum of countinuous wave and pulsed lasers for for the following lidar applications:

Geology: lidar is used to detect subtle changes in topographic features such as faults, glacier movement, coastal erosion, and volcanic activity. Lidar systems may be airborne, satellite-based, or mounted stationary and must withstand extreme weather conditions.

Energy – Doppler lidar measures the frequency of backscattered light transmitted by a light source. This shift in frequency – also known as the Doppler shift – provides data such as wind speed, turbulence, and wind shear, or solar intensity, essential information for renewable energy research and development.

Automotive – Autonomous vehicles may be mounted with lidar systems to provide obstacle information and determine safe routes to a desired destination.

All objects emit and reflect infrared radiation. Thermal imaging, or thermography, relies on the ability of a camera to detect radiation at infrared frequencies, thereby generating a thermogram.

In active thermal imaging, the detector receives IR radiation both emitted and reflected by an object, actively illuminated by an IR source. The contrast among different parts of an active thermogram reflects chemical composition and surface/ material properties even in the absence of a temperature gradient. Active IR imaging requires a laser source such as IPG'sMid-IR hybrid lasers to produce a thermal contrast between the feature of interest and the background. For example, multiple gases and volatile components (VOC’s) of pollutants or explosives have their own characteristic absorption lines in the middle infrared range of spectrum. So, the combination of thermal imaging with selective laser excitation of specific absorption lines of gases or VOC’s enables their sensitive and accurate detection and visualization.